Review: Handful of Soul was a successful album that sold over 300,000 copies when first released back in 2006. Now reissued by Schema Records in a special edition double vinyl set on blue transparent wax, it reminds us of Mario Biondi's remarkable voice. Hailing from Catania, Sicily, it resonates with soul and rhythm & blues influences and contemporaries like Gregory Porter. The record traverses jazz and soul, offering captivating vocal melodies and dance-worthy rhythms and is supported by trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso and his High Five Quintet who showcase an exceptional interplay among top Italian jazz musicians and deliver instinctive jazz performances.
Review: YES! Any self respecting music fan will no doubt already have fully acquainted themselves with Black Messiah, the long promised new album from soul artist D'Angelo and know that it already stands as one of the long players of the year if not the decade! The real fans have probably been waiting for the vinyl release and it's great to see the correct decision has been made to grant Black Messiah a double LP pressing. Everyone no doubt has their favourites on Black Messiah but it's great to have cuts like "Sugah Daddy" on wax, that one is perfect for the house party situations.
Review: TrioRox is a new project uniting three prominent Italian music figures namely pianist Giovanni Guidi, bassist Joe Rehmer, and electronic musician DJ Rocca aka Luca Roccatagliati. Guidi, a jazz piano prodigy, has recorded for ECM and collaborated with Enrico Rava and Ricardo Villalobos before now while Rehmer, an American bass player based in Italy, has worked with jazz greats like Bob Mintzer. Here they combine their skills with Rocca on a record that is a mix of electronic, dance, jazz and pop styles, all with some sleek underlying grooves and hints of electro, classical and minimalism that add up to a real melting pot.
Review: Last October, acclaimed saxophonist Pharoah Sanders turned 80 years young, and his input on this album is testimony to the fact he has clearly aged like a fine wine. Not that this is to suggest preceding outings were anything less worthy than this collaborative project, which sees Sam Shepherd, the British electronic artist better known to most as Floating Points, write nine spectacular arrangements which are then performed by said brass legend, alongside The London Symphony Orchestra.
The results are spectacular, and wildly far-reaching, albeit firmly rooted in jazz with classical undertones. From the movements that made this final cut, some are whisper quiet and delicate to the point of risking breaking off if you were handling haphazardly. Others are booming loud, musical jumbo jets landing at the end of another great crescendo. Whether hushed or monumental, though, we can feel every note and bar of this masterpiece.
Review: Following 2014's When The World Was One, Halsall and the Gondwana collective continue their spiritual jazz adventure with another immaculate narrative. Now with much more vocal prowess, singer Josephine Oniyama plays a lead role in the story, adding consistency and personality to the Halsall's swooning, cinematic odysseys. Highlights include the Hathaway-style half spoken/half sung "Badder Weather", the frenetic double bass and brushed drum crescendos of "The Land Of", the (lark) ascending strings and oriental scales of "Cushendun" and the smoky, faraway Coltraneisms of the title track. Modern jazz doesn't get any more authentic than this.
If You Miss You Kiss You (feat Sa-Ra & Maurice II) (8:50)
Review: Shafiq Husayn has been a driving force on the Los Angeles music scene for decades. He is a producer, songwriter and vocalist who is part of the agenda setting trio Sa-Ra Creative Partners and has produced for greats like Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper, Ice-T, Bilal and Jurassic 5. The Grammy winner is also leader of the expansive The Dove Society collective with whom he links here for a new album So Gold. It's an eclectic, love-fulled fusion of jazz, cosmic soul, hip hop and r&b that is packed with lush musicianship, smooth vocal flows and timeless grooves.
Review: First things first - the cover art for this one is exceptional if you ask us and gets you very excited about what the album will hold once you drop the needle on the record. Good news - it's just as good, as Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids return to form with a first new album in three years. This one is as epic they come, exploring all manner of jazz and Afro-future sounds with core Pyramids members Ackamoor on sax, keytar and organ joined by flutist Margaux Simmons, Sandra Poindexter on violin and Bobby Cobb on guitar. Tracks take in hard-hitting socio-political commentaries and laments for lost loved ones as well as some nice and hazy cosmic trips.
Review: Is there a more genuinely eclectic producer than Kalbata operating right now? We certainly can't think of one. Over the last decade and a half he's turned his hand to everything from dub, techno, dubstep and electro to Balearic beats, downtempo grooves and inspired musical fusions that simply cannot be categorized. His latest excursion - made in cahoots with five-piece Israeli band Tigris -falls into the latter category, offering up a brilliant blend of African and Caribbean rhythms, Turkish psych-funk organ solos, off-kilter electronics, wavy ambient chords and glistening guitars. It's hard to accurately describe but brilliantly produced and hugely entertaining. Don't sleep on this one!
Black Is (feat DSTL Sareem Poems & Rich Medina) (3:57)
Review: Here comes an instrumental version of this killer record, where golden era boom-bap and modern hip-hop sounds are fused to perfection from the big dogs Tall Black Guy and Ozay Moore who team up with guests including KUMBAYA, Malaya and more on this fresh new gatefold LP. 'Viberite' is one of this pair's best collars - a smooth and celebratory track with mellow vibes and soulfully atmospheric textures. 'Make It Like This' rides a nice loose, tumbling beat with warming chords heating it up from below and seductive flows up top. 'Does Anybody Care?' is not only a great title but a string-laced, soul-enriching gem of a tune, too,
They Don't See/Whole Foods (feat Aja Monet) (4:52)
Starting Over (3:33)
Enjoy The Ride (3:27)
Open To Thyself (4:40)
Am I Still New Orleans (feat Robert Glasper) (2:45)
Ghetto Earth (3:32)
Remember (feat Samara Joy & Robert Glasper) (3:58)
Little Things (feat Yaya Bey) (3:47)
You're In Way Over Your Head (feat Robert Glasper) (3:01)
Is It Me You're Calling (5:02)
Who Ha (feat J Ivy) (3:31)
Review: This exclusive double vinyl collection from Wagram brings together the greatest international hits of the naughties. It is a great four-sided collection that covers all of the most famous sounds and artists from the first decade of the 2000s and so is a great cop for anyone who likes to throw a good old nostalgic house party. Along the way are artists like O-Zone, Benny Benassi, Cascada, Vampire Weekend, Madcon, Las Ketchup, Bob Sinclar and more. There is no better way to relive the era's defining sounds than with this curated selection of memorable hits that shaped decades music culture.
Review: Funk Night returns with this magnificent new album Vibrant Kaleisdosonic Rhythms from Zanzibar. It is well infuse by a wide range of worldly sounds, rhythms and moods and kicks off with a melange of incidental jazz keys and raw horn sounds that are super exotic. 'Night In Casablanca' is as steamy as you would expect with a low slung groove, 'Badmington Baobab' is another flute lead sound with mystery and intrigue and 'Hologram Water' is more reflective and inward in its lush keys and delicate organic percussive layers. A nice escapist instrument funk album for laid back times.
Review: The word 'legend' gets banded about rather a lot, but it is certainly applicable to West London scene stalwart Kaidi Tatham. Further confirmation of this elevated status can be found throughout "It's A World Before You", a staggeringly good album that marks the musician-producer's first solo set for some seven years. While rooted in the kind of warm, rich and life-affirming jazz-funk-fuelled broken beat workouts with which Tatham is most readily associated (and they're naturally superb), there's plenty of killer diversions dotted throughout. These include a couple of spacey, soul-flecked ambient rubs, a sublime collaboration with hip-hop/modern soul fusionists Children of Zeus, and a fine head-nodding hip-hop jam featuring rapper Uhmeer. In a word: essential.
Review: In our eyes, Kaidi Tatham can do no wrong. The long-serving keyboardist barely seems to sleep and releases a high volume of collaborations and solo records, but his quality threshold is so high that there's barely a duff track in his catalogue. Over the last few years he's developed a trademark sound that wraps Herbie Hancock style jazz-funk keys around crunchy broken beats, while also drawing influence from hip-hop, '80s electro, boogie, Latin jazz and slick deep house. An Insight Into All Minds, the veteran musician's fifth solo album, is naturally rooted in this trademark style, offering up a collection of cuts that bristle with positivity, pack plenty of punch, and are as well produced and life-affirming as you'd expect. It's a high bar, but it could well be his single best LP to date.
Review: A decade after it first surfaced on CD and digital, Kaidi Tatham's superb contribution to Jazz:Refreshed's now legendary 5ive series of mini-albums has finally made it onto vinyl. We don't expect these to hang around in stock too long, in part because it's one of the most consistently on-point and musically expansive sets in Tatham's vast catalogue - and that's saying something. For proof, check the soulful bruk-up business of 'To My Surprise' (reminiscent of the best of the collective Bugz in the Attic project he was a big part of), the fluid, spiritual jazz-funk brilliance of opener 'Don't Hide Your Love' and the expansive, up-tempo excellence of 'Organic Juggernaut', where fluttering flutes, squelchy bass and sparkling pianos catch the ear.
Don't Rush The Process (feat The Easy Access Orchestra) (5:06)
Just Not Right Rudi (0:48)
All I Need (1:57)
We Chillin' Out (feat The Easy Access Orchestra) (5:07)
Knocknee Donkey (3:15)
Any Flavour (2:38)
Funky Fool (1:31)
Sooretama (feat Robert Mitchell) (4:33)
Runnin' Tru (3:59)
What A Dream (2:20)
Mind Yourself (0:42)
Review: Kaidi Tatham is a master of broken beats and a widely respected figure in the London music scene. His new 12 track album takes us on a lush and louche trip through all his myriad musical skills and styles. Boogie, gospel-tinged hip-hop, jazz-funk and more all colour the futurist grooves with contributions from The Easy Access Orchestra, and pianist Robert Mitchell. This is a fourth solo album from the man and maybe his best yet, even though it has come so quick on the heels of the release of An Insight To All Minds in 2021.
Review: Tenderlonious has been turning out a diverse range of brilliant sounds with all sorts of projects in the last few years from his band Ruby Rushton to classical music with Pakistani quartet Jaubi and even deep house and ambient when he goes solo. Here, four years after his On Flute mini-album back in 2016, he serves up another album of his signature flute-lead sounds on the 22a label with elements of Detroit house, p-funk, synth grooves and more all featuring. 'Isaac's Theme' is a gorgeously deep and reflective flute solo while 'Neptune's Mood' ride on a broken beat. 'Still Flute' is a brilliant jazzy house tribute, presumably, to the St Germain classic.
Review: The always innovative Emma-Jean Thackray's second album continues her tradition of exploring the edges of standard genres with a bold exploration of grief, selfhood and resilience. Created entirely by Thackray in her South London flat, it meshes jazz, pop, soul, p-funk and grunge into a personal journey in which tracks like 'Wanna Die' contrast frenetic beats with raw emotion while tackling mental health with humour and vulnerability. Featuring collaborations with Reggie Watts and Kassa Overall, the album honours individuality and neurodivergence while processing profound loss and results in Thackray's most intimate and daring work to date-an honest, chaotic, and cathartic celebration of surviving and thriving through pain.
Review: Eric Hilton and Rob Gaza very much mastered the art of crafting stoner soundtracks, post-club comedown music and Sunday sonics with a cultured and worldly bent. They did so more than two decades ago and turnout plenty of landmark albums, many of which are now being reissued. Their debut studio album from 1996 featured guest vocals including Pam Bricker - who went on to appear on more albums after this one - and Bebel Gilberto and samples include Kool and the Gang and Cal Tjader's 'Samba Do Suenho'. The album performed well and set the band on the road to success which they enjoyed for many years after.
Show You The Way (feat Michael McDonald & Kenny Loggins) (3:35)
Walk On By (feat Kendrick Lamar) (3:22)
Blackkk (2:00)
Tokyo (2:23)
Jameel's Space Ride (1:11)
Friend Zone (3:12)
Them Changes (3:05)
Where I'm Going (2:04)
Drink Dat (feat Wiz Khalifa) (3:41)
Inferno (4:00)
I Am Crazy (0:26)
3AM (1:14)
Drunk (1:42)
The Turn Down (feat Pharell) (2:29)
DUI (2:20)
Review: Flying Lotus collaborator Thundercat returns to Brainfeeder with his first full album since 2013's superb Apocalypse. Presented over four coloured pieces of 10" vinyl, Drunk is a thrill-a-minute, mix-tape style trip through the multi-instrumentalist and beat-maker's various inspirations (think skewed hip-hop, jazz, soul, funk, left-of-centre electronica, and so on), all of which have been fused and mutated to fit his unique musical perspective. His high standing within the leffield hip-hop community has allowed Thundercat to snag some impressive guest stars, too, including Kendrick Lamarr, blue-eyed soul legend Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Pharell and jazz man Kamasi Washington. Old pal Fly-Lo also lends a hand.
Review: Mille Plateaux and Raster hero Andreas Tilliander meets Fire! Orchestra's Goran Kajfes somewhere deep - and we mean DEEP - in the jazz cosmos. The farthest reaches of a universe far, far away, but one that still seems to understand how joyful vast can sound when pierced by the haunting yet strangely alluring sound of brass. But simply defining this as jazz misses a point, then throws us well beyond the pale. In Cmin would be nothing without the electronic tricks and gadgetry that first made us feel as though we'd space-walked off the edge of the known galaxy, out past the Milky Way's stardust. Echoes, tape delays, things that add mood and timbre without necessarily shouting their presence. There's magic at work here. And, contrary to the 21st Century's obsession with under-the-hood, not knowing the how is the reason why you want this.
Review: Following on from the reissue of his Borwn Loop record as a special new edition, Duval Timothy's own Carrying Colour label is now reissuing the producer's cult Sen Am album this August. The record was recorded between Kyoto, Tokyo, Bath, Freetown and London and weaves in Whatsapp voice notes that he got from friends and family in Sierra Leone. His own solo piano and layered instrumentals form the backbone of each track. It makes for a tender and emotive record that is hyper-contemporary but steeped in jazz tradition.
Father & Son (part 1: Mis Gran Antecesores) (1:11)
Come Sunday, Bass (0:56)
The Inflated Tear (V1) (0:46)
Fire Waltz (0:46)
Desert Fairy Princess (1:38)
Fables Of Faubus (1:16)
Aquarius (1:28)
Warm Canto (0:37)
The Inflated Tear (V2) (0:46)
Come Sunday, Soprano (2:11)
Assunta (1:02)
Father & Son (1:42)
Spirits Rejoice (1:26)
Ogun Bara (part 2: El Chupaflor) (1:50)
Angela's Angel (1:57)
Naima (1:57)
The Prayer (1:57)
Rahsaan Is Beautiful (1:57)
A Walk With Thee (1:57)
Humility In The Light Of The Creator (1:57)
Love (part 3: Unconditional Love) (1:57)
Life (1:57)
Love (alternate take) (0:30)
Life Revisited (1:40)
Review: At 27, Tomin Perea-Chamblee is a Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and bioinformatician already celebrated for his complex harmonies and rich compositions. A product of the area's pre-gentrification era, Tomin has played with various notable jazz-adjacent musicians and now his debut solo album, Flores para Verene / Cantos para Caramina, is a tribute to his family and heritage which blends his personal influences with his own creations and reflecting both tradition and innovation. Flores para Verene features solo clarinet and trumpet renditions of classics by jazz icons, Cantos para Caramina showcases Tomin's original compositions dedicated to his sister, Caramina, using synths and keyboards, and overall the record merges intimate, lo-fi recordings with melodic abstraction. An accomplished record for sure.
Review: Laurie Torres is a Canadian musician and composer of Haitian descent and she spent years as a trusted collaborator for artists like Julia Jacklin and Pomme. In 2023, she shifted focus to her own solo work, resulting in her debut album Apres coup. Inspired by contemporary artists such as Tirzah and Valentina Magaletti, the album blends piano, drums, synths and field recordings to create a rich and meditative sound that was recorded at Studio Wild in Quebec. It reflects Torres' journey towards creative freedom and self-expression while exploring themes of introspection, marginalisation and the beauty of imperfection.
Review: Trombonist and producer Rosie Turton is the latest rising star of jazz to be offered a volume in Jazz re:freshed's 5ive series of EPs. Her volume, which like its predecessors boasts a quintet of original compositions, is very different to its predecessors, mixing bustling jazz instrumentation (drums, trombone and sax, piano, double bass) with wild and free violin solos, occasional electronics and the odd bout of spoken word poetry. There's much to enjoy throughout, with highlights including the lolloping, hip-hop influenced swing of "Butterfly", the gentle Latin rhythms, electric piano solos and languid bass of "Orange Moon", and the soundscape ambient jazz bliss of "Stolen Ribs". As solo debuts go, it's a bit of a doozy.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.